MWC 2009
LG had more than just the Arena and GM730 on display at MWC. They actually debuted three new S-Class phones at the show, and were showing off a few other interesting phones that they simply weren't promoting as much.
The GD900 runs the new S-Class interface, so it's a finger-touch phone. But unlike the Arena with its high-end specs, and the GM730 with Windows Mobile, the focus of the GD900 is on design. The stand-out design element is the completely transparent slide-out numeric keypad, which lights up with a cool (as in blue) glow when open. There's not much else to say about it. It's neat; it's definitely a conversation piece, as well as to a full-featured touch phone.
Here's a quick video of the GD900:
One stealth phone in the LG booth - not really "announced" that we know of - is the KT770. The big news is that this is a smartphone running S60 3.2 (or 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 in Nokia parlance.)
As far as specs, it's well-equipped, but doesn't have anything really unique to set it apart from the pack. Features include a 5-megapixel camera, GPS navigation, and a 2.8-inch 400 x 240-pixel display.
The interface looks standard for S60. It has a bit of LG styling with the colors and icons, but that's all we noticed.
Another interesting phone is the KS360. It's not new globally, but it's rumored to be be coming to the US, so we checked it out.
The concept is quite interesting. It technically has a touch screen, but it's not really a touch-oriented phone. It's basically a typical QWERTY messaging slider, except that it has an on-screen numeric keypad instead of a physical one. This allows the screen to be larger - yet the overall phone smaller - than most other messaging sliders. It's also thinner than dual-slide phones like the Pantech Ocean and Matrix.
This actually makes a lot of sense. Personally, I rarely dial numbers. I'm much more likely to use a full keyboard or simply use a d-pad for most interactions with my phone. Everyone I call is in my contacts list, so having the dial pad relegated to temporary touch keys works well.
The virtual numeric keypad can be summoned using a dedicated button at the bottom-left of the d-pad area.
That's pretty much all the touch screen is used for, though. You can't even use the touch screen to select main menu icons, for example. LG might say you should consider it a non-touch phone with a zero-footprint numeric keypad.
The KS360 looks and feels nice. We hope the rumors are correct and it will come to the US.
We also took a closer, hands-on look at the S-Class UI on the Arena. Check out the updated LG page in Part 3 to see our new video tour.
Samsung Refreshes Galaxy S Series with S Pen, New Cameras
Nokia Brings New G Series to US
Orbic Reaches Beyond Verizon's Orbit with the Magic 5G
Nokia G300 Lands at TracFone with 5G
iMovie Makes it Easier to Create Polished Videos
